Morgan Fisher : writings

The Los Angeles filmmaker and painter has always taken the greatest care in using language to frame his work—adhering in this sense to the conceptual tradition that the purpose of art practice, not to mention its outcome—the artwork, is in some need of clarification. The norms and the lexicon usually deemed intrinsic to the medium of painting and of moving image, are at the core of Fisher’s interest. Language is then the accompanying medium to question such norms. For instance: there are (to quote a press release from a 2007 show—written by Fisher, that goes without saying) “unspoken assumptions that limit paintings. These unspoken assumptions produced what I have called painting as usual […] I want […] to call them into questions and move painting beyond them. I want to make paintings that are not submissive.” (Stefano Cernuschi)